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Marriott Bonvoy

How We Booked Our Maldives Trip With Miles And Points

We redeemed miles and points and paid less than $2,400 for our Maldives flights and hotel (over $23,000 value)

The Ultimate Peru Itinerary: Machu Picchu, Huacachina, Paracas, and Lima

How we made the most of 5 nights in Peru

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If you’ve been around here long enough, you know

If you’ve been around here long enough, you know my favorite ways to use miles and points are on luxury hotel stays and long haul international business and first class flights. But sometimes points and miles can be utilized for some fun last minute domestic trips that would otherwise cost thousands.

Ryan and I were kidless last weekend (we just took a trip to Florida-I’ll post pics of that soon too-where my parents live and the kids were staying with my parents for another week) so on Thursday we decided to book a last minute weekend trip. The stars aligned for DC since the Rangers were playing there, AA had web specials on miles, and we found hotel award availability at a great hotel 2 blocks from the stadium.

We saw many of the obligatory DC sites such as the White House, Lincoln Memorial, and Washington Monument. We had brunch at Old Ebbitt Grill, which is a must if you’re visiting DC 🦪 Rangers lost, but it was a great time ⚾️

Our totals:
19k AA miles roundtrip plus $11.20 per plane ticket (economy fares were $750 per ticket 😳)
24k Blue Bank points (and $0 fees) transferred to Hyatt for our stay at Thompson DC (the stay was valued at almost $600-but we were upgraded to a suite making it even more valuable!) We loved this hotel! Great location and great rooftop restaurant/bar. And you could see the stadium from our windows because it’s that close.
#awardtravel #milesandpoints #worldofhyatt #thompsondc

It’s his world, we just live in it #dogsof30a #3

It’s his world, we just live in it #dogsof30a #30a

And I’ve found so many great last minute deals i

And I’ve found so many great last minute deals in the past few weeks😅 #awardtravel

Weaponized incompetence 😂

Weaponized incompetence 😂

Rimowa chariots 🧳 #awardtravel #rimowa #daisy

Rimowa chariots 🧳

#awardtravel #rimowa #daisymerollin

Best player 2 ever 💳In the context of award t

Best player 2 ever

💳In the context of award travel, 2 player mode just means you are working with a partner to earn points and miles for travel. This can be your spouse, partner, a friend, a parent…you get it.

💍🚫 Banks don’t care about your marriage status or living situation. Even if you’re married and/or living with a partner, each of you can open the same type of card.

✈️The most obvious reason to do this is to earn more points. 2 people earning welcome bonuses is better than one. This doesn’t necessarily mean you should both go open the same cards at the same time. Depending on your spending habits, you may need to stagger your applications so that you can make sure you can meet the minimum spending requirements to earn the bonus.

💳As always, I only suggest opening travel cards if you’re responsible which means don’t overspend and pay your cards off on time in full every single month. #awardtravel #milesandpoints #krabithailand #phulaybayaritzcarltonreserve #qatarairways #luxurytravel #marriottbonvoy

Having status could have prevented this but unpopu

Having status could have prevented this but unpopular opinion: I don’t chase status anymore. I usually earn American Airlines status organically each year, but going out of my way to earn status just isn’t worth it to me anymore #awardtravel #milesandpoints #southwestairlines #southwestair

We love a plane bar 🥂 ✈️A great way to get

We love a plane bar 🥂

✈️A great way to get the Emirates A380 business or first class experience on points and miles is to fly the Fifth Freedom route between JFK and Milan. Fuel surcharges and redemption prices are reasonable. Unfortunately most Emirates routes to or connecting through Dubai have really high fuel surcharges these days, so depending on your route, Emirates may not be the greatest deal on points.

💳Earning Emirates miles is very easy. You can transfer Amex Membership Rewards points, Capital One Venture miles, Citi Thank You points, and Blue bank Ultimate Rewards points to Emirates.

#awardtravel #emiratesairlines #emiratesa380 #luxurytravel #milesandpoints #pointsandmiles #capitaloneventure #amexmembershiprewards

🪩🎤💳 Having Capital One cards did not help

🪩🎤💳 Having Capital One cards did not help us get Taylor Swift tickets, but we’re thankful for awesome friends who hooked us up big time! Tay, next time partner with Amex 😜 In the past, I’ve had really good luck with Amex presales. Anyway, we had the best time and yes Ryan is the biggest TS fan in our house. He was styled by his surgical staff! #taylorswift #erastour #lovestorytaylorswift #taylorswifterastour #capitalone #americanexpress

STOKED ⛷️Vacasa is a vacation rental booking

STOKED

⛷️Vacasa is a vacation rental booking platform similar to VRBO and AirBNB. You can use Wyndham points to book Vacasa rentals!
⛷️ I have never used Wyndham points. I had 0 Wyndham points, but you don’t need Wyndham points because certain 💳 points transfer to Wyndham.
⛷️The redemption pricing model is simple. It’s 15k points per night per bedroom.
⛷️Lex and I each booked a room for 15k per night. After taxes and fees, the rooms we booked would have been over $400/night, so this is a great value. Our rooms were in a hotel steps away from the lifts!
⛷️ If you have a card that earns Capital One Venture miles or Citi Thank You points, you might already have the points needed for this!
If not, the welcome bonus on CO Venture or Venture X is enough to book 5 nights this way (AF is $95 on COV)
🎿a few things to note:
-Not everything you see on Vacasa will be bookable on points and unfortunately the only way to know is to call.
-What I’ve found is that if a property is available for the dates you want, and the average rate for your stay dates is under $350/night per bedroom before taxes/fees, you should be good to go (so for 2BR it’s $700)
-make a list of properties on Vacasa that you think will work prior to calling
-If the property you would like to book is available, Capital One points transfer immediately to Wyndham.
⛷️More details on my story highlights!

#awardtravel #milesandpoints #pointsandmiles #capitaloneventure #capitaloneventurex #vacasa #crestedbutte

Nailed it 😂 #crestedbutte #crestedbuttecolorado

Nailed it 😂 #crestedbutte #crestedbuttecolorado #skitrip

Spring Break 2023 in Crested Butte with the best f

Spring Break 2023 in Crested Butte with the best friends! CB is getting buried in snow this year and it made for some incredible skiing ❄️
🎿
Skiing is expensive, but it’s something our family really enjoys. While there aren’t any great ways to book lift tickets, etc. on miles/points, you can certainly cover lodging and/or flights. Obviously passes such as Epic or Ikon also save money if you go enough, but again, no great ways on points unless you’re using a cash-back type rewards currency (We don’t like cash-back because our main use for points is on international business class flights and 💳 that earn transferable airline miles are better for that) Hyatt has some excellent ski properties to book w points, but we did something new this year!
⛷️
We ended up using Wyndham points transferred from Capital One Venture to book a suite through Vacasa in CB. This is a great way to book lodging on points for ski trips. Our suite in CB was actually in a hotel in a great location just steps from the lifts, but some Vacasa rentals are condos or houses. Redemption pricing depends on the # of bedrooms(a suite is considered 1 bedroom) and it’s 15k/night per BR. Our total was 15k/night and the paid rate would have been around $400/night after fees. Back to the cash-back thing: I just want to point out that a $400 room with most cash back 💳 means you would need 40k points per night. There are no fees when you book Vacasa w Wyndham points. Our friends also booked a room at the same hotel this exact same way. For CB, it worked out best for each of us to book a room at this hotel, but we were also looking at houses in other ski destinations. It gets kind of interesting when it comes to houses, bc we found that there would be a 2 bedroom house, but then it would have a huge loft/bunk room for kids. Some of these houses could sleep 10-12 people, but the redemption price was still that of a 2 bedroom (30k per night). Capital One allows you to transfer points to friends so it’s easy to pool your points for a rental!
💳
You can read more about the booking process in my story highlight Ski Hack. This also works well for Vacasa in several other destinations such as Hawaii.

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